Thomas Hooker Old Marley Barleywine

Brewed by Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Bloomfield, Connecticut USA

2006 blue 500ml bottle: Pours a deep adrk brown, no head whatsoever. Aroma is mild in contrast to the flavor, although the same. Flavor is of malts, caramel, lots of brown sugar.

From swingtop, thanks Immy! Pours a muddy brown with decent tan head. Nose is roasted malts, caramel, brown sugar. Flavor is much the same with a medium bitter finish and just a little bit of alcohol on the end.

Bottled 2005. Dark hazy caramely-brown body, medium cream head. Aroma prevalent in the sweet aroma, otherwise dominated by brown sugar, caramel, and a touch of toffee with rough, resiny bitter, citric hops. Toffee also lends an interesting character to the flavor, complemented by caramel and earthy, leafy hops, brown sugar, and prickly, bitter alcohol. The effects of oak were relatively subtle. Nice full-bodied beer built for winter, but very nice even on a warm summer night.

This is the first Hooker beer I’ve had. Absolutely NO head, whasoever Body was cludy and dark brown. Aroma was much different than many barleywines I’ve had. Light bread, banana, grape, raisin, port. Taste was a bit different than what I expected based on the aroma. Heavy sweet and lots of vanilla and oak, which I love. I could really feel the alcohol. The great vanilla/oak taste got better as the beer warmed up. I think I’ll pick up some more of these to drink now and for cellaring.

500 mL swing top bottle from jjpm74. Pours a slightly cloudy dark walnut brown with a tiny frothy tan head, totally dissipates, is a thick brew. Aroma is sweet malt (cookie, biscuit), toffee, chocolate, coffee, maple. Wonderful and inviting aroma, not typical hoppiness of most BW’s. Sweet, medium bitter chocolate flavor, oak and vanilla, medium acidity, toasted malt, finish is dark caramel and chocolate. Medium to full bodied, smooth, creamy and velvety palate.

500mL bottle, snifter. *sigh* Straight lipped bottle=spills. Still, homebrew bottle, yay! My first aroma impression is that the American hops are sitting a little too far out in front on this one. I really dig deeply sweet, under-hopped, English-style Barleywines and this seemed a little shy. Fortunately for me, that sharp piney/citric aroma quickly wafted away and left me with a real gem in the making. Stepping back a bit, the hue is a deep and murky brown and virtually no head ever set up. Still, I’d rather have that than an over-carbonated citric-bomb. Though there are some orange tinted hop edges to it, this beer is gunning for ‘malt-bomb’ territory with lush aromas of caramel, treacle, toffee, chocolate, raisins, plums and just about everything else I equate with ‘dark’ and ‘sweet’. Bitter roasted and nutty tones compliment the perfume like hop notes in the aroma. Aging on (what I assume must have been significantly charred) oak lends heavy vanilla, woody, and burnt aromas. The bourbon of said barrels comes through to much less a degree (which I don’t mind) and seems to give butter and charcoal elements to the mix. The flavor begins extremely malty sweet with a brown sugar quality. The fruits mostly die out in the taste and give way to lots of sugary sweetness. A light acidity is underneath, but not enough to disrupt. Roast and chocolate notes are very pronounced, especially for a Barleywine. The finish is a slow release of all that sweetness into a caressing orange, perfume and roasty bitterness (yeah, the orange is okay now, ‘cause hey, chocolate oranges are pretty damn good) with a moderate alcohol warmth. There is, perhaps, not quite enough total bitterness to make an entire 500mL bottle palatable, though (I’m used to those teeny British bottles, dammit). The body is thick, but never sticky, and sensationally creamy with very low carbonation. Let warm, drink slowly, share with a friend, and break out a nice cigar I say.

500 ml cobalt blue flip top bottle. I poured it into a snifter glass. There was absolutely no head formed. The brew is a dark murky brown. The aroma is of smoky malt. The taste is smoky sweet and has a bitter aftertaste. Not anywhere near the best barley wine I’ve had. I really liked the bottle though. And I think this stuff needs to age. Says it was bottled in 2006. (Note to self buy some more and let it sit.)

thanks goes to captaincouger and the GA. crew for this blue bottle 2006. poured a brown with no head just a few bubbles. aroma, alcohol, brown sugar and malts jump out there first, than vanilla as it start to warm. flavor, got a sourness that I wasn’t excepting, than got some hops along with a woody and vanilla. like the slight dryness to this. didn’t get the sweetness I usually get from a barley wine. a very good beer